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Thursday, June 28, 2012

So, I was supposed to make a little something for my mom for her birthday... that was in May. I am now finally finished with it... I think! I still have to see how it looks in her bathroom to know if I'm really finished.

Monday, June 25, 2012

Sagebrush...... not exactly my favorite plant because of allergies, but it can be quite beautiful if caught in the right light. I spent my weekend surrounded by the stuff in the high desert of Nevada. Man, am I glad to be home again!

Thursday, June 21, 2012

Last weekend was the chalk art festival in Salt Lake City... it was pretty cool! My husband and I went out on a date (that doesn't happen often enough) the first night it was open, so most of the artworks weren't complete yet. Even so, it was fun to see. I was so inspired that I want to sign up to do one next year... but I'm not sure my back and knees could take it. We'll see...

My all-time favorite was Animal from Sesame Street! The color contrast is so striking!

Another favorite... a Japanese style chalk drawing. So unique!

And the feature of the festival...too bad it was only half-way done. This one was looking amazing!

After seeing the art, we enjoyed a little treat while sitting on a nearby bench, when I happened to spot this....

Tuesday, June 19, 2012

I made this for the first time ever and it was so delicious! Thanks to my in-laws for their fresh mint! This limeade would not be the same without it.

You can find the recipe HERE at allrecipes.com. It's actually a Pepper-Mint Limeade that calls for slices of jalapeno peppers, but you really don't need them. I left out the peppers and the drink was pretty much perfect :)

Thursday, June 14, 2012

Hey guys! Today I'm putting in a plug for my good friend, who happens to make some pretty cool art. She's got a website up now, so go check out Jamie Swim Art sometime! She mostly paints with acrylics on canvas, but I've seen some of her work on guitars and hats even!

She paints Hawaiian landscapes that are so bright and happy. It seriously makes you want to live in Hawaii like she does... ya I'm a little jealous about that!

Tuesday, June 12, 2012

Hello! This week has been one of those weeks where I don't feel like making a whole lot of stuff and taking pictures of it. I love creating, but ya, even I need breaks once in a while. So luckily, I put together this little project and tutorial for you last week.

So here is my new memo board...made from a thrifted picture frame, cardboard and canvas. Entirely free for me to make because I had all of those things at hand already!

Here is what you need to get going:

Materials:
Picture Frame ( I used one for the thrift store)
Thick Cardboard
Canvas or Burlap
Staple Gun with Staples
Embellishments

Step 1: Cut and fit some thick cardboard into the frame.

Step 2: Lay the frame face down on the canvas and cut a few inches around the borders.

Step 3: Fold the canvas over one of the sides and staple it in the center of the length of that side to secure it to the frame.

Step 4: Fold the canvas over on the opposite side of the frame and stretch tightly. Staple again in the center of that side. Do the same for the other two sides of the frame, stretching tightly each time.

Now your frame should look like this.. with one staple in the center of each side.

Step 5:Continue to staple the rest of the canvas onto the frame, working from the center out and alternating sides. Remember to pull the canvas tightly each time.

This process is what is known as in the art world as "stretching a canvas"... a little skill I learned in my oil painting class. cool huh? The goal is to stretch the canvas as tightly and evenly as possible, but for our purposes here, the tightness and evenness don't matter quite as much.

Step 6: Time to finish off the corners....fold the canvas over so that it looks like the picture below. I can't quite explain how to get a straight clean corner. I had to play around with it for a while to get it straight. Once you get it folded over, hold it down tightly and staple it down.

Step 7: Ok, the hard work is over... now to the fun stuff! Decorating! I have a plethora of crochet flowers hanging out in my yarn bin that I put to use for this project :)

Now go find a nice spot for it in your house... my spot happens to be the kitchen. The kitchen is always the center of our house, so this is where my board goes. It's working out nicely so far!

Thursday, June 7, 2012

Watercolors and ink go together so well... so well in fact that you could say they go together like peanut butter and jelly, don't you think?

These little paintings actually came about partially by accident. They started out as plain stenciled watercolors, but they looked kind of lonely. So I got out my pen and started drawing some leaves around the birds, not intending to do any shading, but then, I smeared it. I decided to just make it look like that's the way it was supposed to be by smearing other parts. Then I went a little crazy and starting smearing water on it too. It was one of those accidents that actually turn out making something cool! I love it when that happens!

Tuesday, June 5, 2012

Alright, today I'm sharing another organization project, well actually, it's more about making the organization pretty. I already had this little wooden box, it was just plain and ugly. I keep it in the kitchen to hold random things like my phone charger, hand sanitizer, and pens. It needed some serious help.

So here's the before..

and here's the after!

A little paint, paper and modge podge did the trick! Now it matches my kitchen.. yay!

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